Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/193275 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11981
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
If individuals become aware of their stereotypes, do they change their behavior? We study this question in the context of teachers' bias in grading immigrants and native children in middle schools. Teachers give lower grades to immigrant students compared to natives who have the same performance on standardized, blindly-graded tests. We then relate differences in grading to teachers' stereotypes, elicited through an Implicit Association Test (IAT). We find that math teachers with stronger stereotypes give lower grades to immigrants compared to natives with the same performance. Literature teachers do not differentially grade immigrants based on their own stereotypes. Finally, we share teachers' own IAT score with them, randomizing the timing of disclosure around the date on which they assign term grades. All teachers informed of their stereotypes before term grading increase grades assigned to immigrants. Revealing stereotypes may be a powerful intervention to decrease discrimination, but it may also induce a reaction from individuals who were not acting in a biased way.
Subjects: 
immigrants
teachers
implicit stereotypes
IAT
bias in grading
JEL: 
I24
J15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
914.28 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.